THE LEARNING CENTER
Hafted Spokeshaves
Contributed by member Jim Bennett- "woodman32"
Special Thanks to Ohio collector Randy Hancock for letting me photo and scan his Spokeshave collection for use in this section
How did
ancient amerinds straighten their wooden arrow and spear shafts?
With a
spokeshave!
A spokeshave is a piece of flint with with a crescent shaped cutting edge. This was hafted to an antler, bone or wooden handle and then scraped up and down the spear/arrow shaft to remove bark and to straighten it.
There are really two different types of spokeshaves. The first is the "Uniface" style which has flaking only on one side of the tool.
The second is flaked on both sides. This type is usually made from a knife where the spokeshave is simply chipped into the side. I have seen alot of this type made from a knife with a broken tip. Instead of discarding the knife, it was turned into a spokeshave.
Type 1 - Uniface Spokeshaves
These are only flaked or "worked" on one side of the tool
Type 2 - spokeshaves added to or made from knives - these are flaked on both sides of the tool
